


Nothing Familiar Except Her

by ladyoneill



Series: Lady O's Teen Wolf Bingo Stories [102]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Post Hale Fire, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 01:23:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3099791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fire, Derek is in a stupor as he and Laura criss-cross the country, hiding from hunters, scared and alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Familiar Except Her

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Hurt/Comfort Bingo prompt: culture shock, because Derek's not used to flop houses, greasy cheap food, thrift store clothes etc. The prostitution is only a brief reference and Derek's supposition about how his sister is getting cash.

Derek spent the first month in a stupor. Laura dragged him on and off buses, their path across the country meandering in all directions, even backtracking. Sometimes they walked for miles down dusty roads, through rain, even once snow. When not on a bus, they huddled in deserted warehouses or flop houses. During a blizzard somewhere in Montana they spent three days in a cheap motel that reeked of sex, pot and booze, but didn't require ID or a credit card. 

In a flop house surrounded by runaway teenagers, Derek took his first hit of heroin.

The feeling of euphoria didn't last long enough, and he came back to himself to the feel of a cock tearing into his ass and his teeth clenched around a filthy blanket.

The pain of that encounter didn't last past the moment the guy came.

He ate what Laura put in front of him which was never very much or very nutritious. They both lost weight, bodies growing harder with every mile on the road.

For the first week Laura tried to get him to talk, but Derek never said anything. He was too afraid that once he started, everything would come out.

And she'd leave him.

Or kill him.

Derek knew he couldn't survive the first and deserved the second.

Mind dulled while he was awake, he never asked or even cared where they were going, why they were on the run, where the cash Laura used for everything was coming from. Even the time he saw his sister on her knees sucking the dick of a trucker who'd given them a lift for a hundred miles in Missouri made no lasting impression. 

Early on, a few times they took refuge with packs, but that stopped when Derek heard Laura arguing with the Alpha of a pack in Arizona. His name was mentioned by both, and he was dimly aware that the Alpha wanted him as the mate of his brother and Laura was refusing him.

Derek didn't really care one way or another, even though the much older brother's leers made him uncomfortable.

And, then, one day Derek returned to full awareness to find himself following his sister through a crowded bus station and out into a cold wind that brought with it the scents of humanity and ripe garbage and pollution. Looking up he couldn't see the sun because of the tall buildings surrounding him, and a cacophony of cars, people, and distant sirens nearly overwhelmed his sensitive ears.

Wolves stayed away from large cities. Too many people too closely crowded together. Not enough open space to run and howl. Horrible smells and loud noises and...

Moaning, Derek clapped his hands over his ears and tried to breathe through his mouth. He saw Laura giving him a concerned look and tried to concentrate, to dull his senses, and finally lowered his hands and realized she was calling his name.

"Where...?"

A fierce light filled her eyes and she took his free hand--the other one tightly clutching the backpack that held his few possessions which were mostly clothes from thrift stores and cheap toiletries. He remembered she'd made him toss out his phone and his driver's license and library card, anything with his name on it, leaving the only things of worth a few pictures of his family.

His family.

Pain filled him and he felt tears sting his eyes, then Laura was pulling him into her arms, holding him fiercely as she soothed him with low rumbles and buried her nose behind his ear.

"It'll be okay, Derek. We'll be okay. We're going to stay here now, hidden and safe. No packs, no hunters, we'll just blend in and become new people."

Over her shoulder Derek stared in dismay at the city that apparently would be their home now and wondered if he'd ever get used to it. As the memories of the last month overwhelmed him and questions like why they weren't using their trust funds and if they'd be able to get jobs with no IDs ran through his mind, he clung to Laura, his Alpha, the only thing he had left, and knew he could never tell her the truth behind the fire. He'd have to live with his guilt, because he couldn't lose her and the only comfort left to him.

End


End file.
